This is an American made problem. The islands were taken after the Japanese victory over China in 1894, and returned to the ROC (KuoMinTang) in 1945 together with Taiwan. The US excercised control as China was in a civil war, the ROC decided to give the islands to the US as a thank you for the US support.When US gave back Okinawa to Japan, they gave these islands too.... The PRC protested to no avail.In the chinese culture of face saving and loss, it is inevitable Jpan has to hand back the islands or face war in the long run. China doesn't trust Japan anyway and suspects them of preparing for nuclear, something the new Japanese restauration party is confirming in its message that thanks to the Japanese nuclear power plants Japan will be able to build nuclear weapons within a few weeks. Now I live part of the year in China, all my chinese friends tell me over a year already there will be some war over some islands ..